


Broken

by afteriwake



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-21
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-26 00:59:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1668896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an attempt to save Sherlock and John's life from an intruder Mrs. Hudson picks up the first thing she can use as a weapon, which happens to be Sherlock's violin. But the replacement she gets for him more than exceeds his expectations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken

**Author's Note:**

> Another **land_deduction** Bingo fill, this time for the "Violin" prompt on the Both Shows card. Also, this is an answer to a prompt I left at **sherlockmas's** summer round last year ("John, Sherlock, Mrs. Hudson; 'Just what were you thinking hitting him with the violin?'").
> 
> UPDATED: In the comments to this story there is a link to a rant about how this story can never happen. It is well written and makes valid points. As it stands, because of that I changed the type of violin Sherlock received at a later date than the story was originally posted.

It had been a short and ugly fight. None of them had expected people to break into 221B Baker Street, and no one had expected them to be armed. There were three of them, and John took care of one while Sherlock got the other two. Or at least he thought he had. The third one had gotten up, staggered towards Sherlock, and then suddenly went down just after a solid thunk was heard. Both Sherlock and John turned to see Mrs. Hudson standing over the man. “Well, that was interesting,” she said quietly.

“And quite tedious,” Sherlock said with a sigh. He had barely glanced at Mrs. Hudson at first, and right after he turned away he turned back, his eyes wide with horror. “No...” he said quietly.

“Sherlock?” John asked, looking at him strangely. “What's wrong?”

“Why did you have to hit him with the violin?” Sherlock asked her quietly, moving towards her.

“I just picked up the first thing I could lay my hands on,” she said as her eyes widened. “I was panicking that he was going to shoot one of you.” Sherlock moved next to her and she handed him the violin. The minute it was jostled it finished snapping in half, only being held together by the strings. She wrung her hands together slightly. “I am sorry, Sherlock. I am so very sorry.”

“My violin,” he murmured, shifting his hold so he had a half in each hand.

“I'll replace it,” Mrs. Hudson said. “I promise, I'll get you a brand new one. Top quality, too.”

“This one had history,” he said. “It's one of the few things I had kept from my childhood.” He moved over to his chair, sitting down on it. He set the violin on his lap. “I was not encouraged to keep my childhood possessions as I got older, but my violin instructor convinced my parents that having the same instrument as I got better would be vital. I would learn every nuance of my instrument, be able to coax the best sounds from it. In some respects, this was the only true companion I had when I was a child.”

“Can it be fixed?” John asked.

“Possibly.” Then he sighed. “I'll take care of it. If it's at all salvageable I'll find out soon.”

“Please let me cover the cost,” Mrs. Hudson said. “And if it can't be fixed, please let me buy you a new one.”

“All right,” Sherlock said quietly. “I suppose we should alert Lestrade to our situation and then I can see if there's any hope of repairing this.” He set the violin aside and then stood up, pulling out his mobile and moving away from John and Mrs. Hudson.

Mrs. Hudson looked over at Sherlock worriedly. “I'm not going to be able to apologize to him enough,” she said quietly towards John as he came closer to her.

“You saved our lives. I'm fairly sure he'll forgive you soon enough, if he hasn't already. He doesn't really stay mad at you for long. Everyone else, yeah, but not you. He'll see you had the best intentions.”

“I just didn't know,” she said. Then she turned to look at John. “I'm going to buy him a new one, regardless of whether he can get his fixed. Something very nice, something high quality. Do you have any suggestions?”

“I don't know the first thing about violins, not even after all this time,” he replied, shaking his head. “Sherlock would know best.”

“But I want it to be a surprise.” She was quiet for a few minutes as they watched Sherlock kneel down to check the pulse of the man closest to him. “I'll find someone who can help me.”

“Well, I think he'll be happy,” John said, giving her a reassuring smile.

“I hope so,” she replied quietly. “I truly do.”

–

Two days later Sherlock came home looking dejected. John was in the sitting room on his laptop and he looked up when he heard Sherlock coming up the stairs. “Bad news, I take it?” he asked.

“It's a total loss. Even if it was repaired it would sound tonally different, and I liked the way that one sounded.” He made his way to his chair and sat down. “I suppose I'll need to start trying to purchase another one. It's going to be a tedious process because I have high standards and I'm very picky.”

“Best of luck to you, mate,” John said, setting his laptop aside. “I need to go get something very quickly. When I come back do you want me to start supper?”

“I suppose,” Sherlock said with a sigh, tilting his head back. “I don't have much of an appetite, to be honest.”

“I'm going to feed you regardless,” John said, and in response Sherlock waved him off. John turned and after he left the sitting room he headed towards Mrs. Hudson's part of their home. He knocked on her door and waited. After a moment she opened it. “He can't get the violin fixed,” he said after a moment.

“Oh, dear,” she said. “I had hoped he would be able to. All right, then. I suppose I need to go get him his violin.”

“You mean find him a new one,” John said.

“Oh, no, I already did,” she said as she shook her head. His eyes widened slightly. “My friend Alice's son is an expert when it comes to musical instruments. He had one he had been fixing up for fun and his mother convinced him that it would be best in Sherlock's hands as opposed to a collector. It's a violin with a very strange name, but I've been assured it's in tip top shape.”

“Well, I hope he likes it,” John said.

“Let me go get it,” she said. She went back into her part of the flat, and after a few minutes she came out carrying a violin case. “I do hope he likes it, John. I still feel terrible about destroying his other one.”

“I'm sure he will,” John said.

The two of them made their way back up to the sitting room, finding Sherlock still sitting in his chair, looking miserable. Mrs. Hudson cleared her throat and he looked up. “Yes?”

“I know it's not the same as your old violin, but I thought I could get you a replacement,” she said, moving towards him. “It's supposedly high quality.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Hudson, but there's no need,” he said.

“Please. I insist,” she said, handing him the case.

He looked at the case, then at her, and then he nodded. “Thank you,” he said finally. He set the case on his lap and undid the latches to open it. Then his jaw dropped. After a moment he looked up at her, his eyes wide. “Mrs. Hudson, where did you get this? And exactly how much did you pay for it?”

“I got it from a friend's son who restores instruments,” she said worriedly. “He charged me very little for it, just over a thousand pounds. Is it not high quality?”

“Mrs. Hudson, this is a Postacchini,” he said quietly, carefully lifting the violin out of its case. “And it looks as though it's from the period where he did his best work. This violin is worth far more than you paid for it. This violin is...it's exquisite.”

Her eyes widened. "So I did well?” she asked.

“You did superbly,” Sherlock said, bestowing on her an actual smile as opposed to the fake ones he usually fobbed off on people. He set the violin back in the case and then moved it to the side, standing up and moving towards her. He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you, very much,” he said when he moved away.

She gave him a wide smile. “You're very welcome, Sherlock.”

“I'd like to hear this new violin in action,” John said with a grin.

“I can do that,” Sherlock said with a nod, going back to the violin case. He lifted it up and then took out the bow that was in the case. He got into position and then began to play. It was immediately noticeable that this instrument was of better quality than his old one had been. He played through an entire song, his eyes shut, and when he was done he lowered the violin and opened his eyes. “That was truly a pleasure.”

“Oh, that sounded beautiful,” Mrs. Hudson said happily. “I promise I will never pick it up to use as a blunt instrument, I swear.”

John chuckled. “I think Sherlock's going to keep it under lock and key.”

“Probably not,” Sherlock said, shaking his head. “But I would appreciate it if nothing happened to this one.”

“Well, We'll all do our absolute best,” she said. “Could you play another song for us? I do so like listening to you play.”

“Of course,” he said, getting back into position and beginning to play another song. Mrs. Hudson watched and smiled. She was glad she had made him happy and gotten him a truly grand instrument. The contented look on his face was more than enough to make her feel less guilty about ruining his other violin, and she was glad for that.


End file.
